


Save You

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Series: IronPanther Plotbunnies [9]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BAMF T'Challa (Marvel), BAMF Tony, Honestly T'Challa and Tony are so petty in this, Marriage of Convenience, Protective T'Challa (Marvel), Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Rhodey is a fucking great bro what are you talking about, So have this instead, Spontaneous Marriage, Sweet T'Challa (Marvel), Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and a lil bit spiteful but in a good way, because he needs his Rhodey, but it works out, but my Christmas fluff never ends up Christmas fluff, it's just as fun!, seriously, this was initially Christmas fluff, without Rhodey Tony would die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:05:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9046520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: “My father has decided that I should start… training of sorts to take over as King when he steps down and I disagree with his decision. I do not, nor have I ever wanted to be the King. Unfortunately tradition means I must take over for my father unless, of course, I marry a foreigner. So, would you like to get married?” T'Challa jokes, half smiling. “Sure,” his companion says, shrugging and letting out a grin of his own. “I… are you serious?” he asks, frowning. “If you are. I mean why not?"





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to add one more story to this collective to make it an even ten, then I might start another IronPanther Plotbunny series in the interest in keeping the tags from being absurdly long for the series.
> 
> Warnings for mentions of child abuse, mostly. If something needs to be added let me know.
> 
> Happy Holidays!

T’Challa sits at a bar contemplating how he was going to go about this. He loves his father, he always will, but he was not willing to become Wakanda’s next King. Shuri has been pining for his position her whole life and she is a good leader, a natural, and she is far better with politics than he is so she was a good choice. But as per Wakandan tradition the first born to the King was to be the next in line for the Throne- which was him unfortunately. Unless…

Unless he married a foreigner, but where the hell was he supposed to find one of those? This was the first time he has stepped foot outside his home country since he went to Oxford for his Masters degree nearly ten years ago. “You look like you’re thinking awfully hard,” someone says. He turns to find a surprisingly pretty white guy looking at him from the next stool. His features were sharp- though that was at least partially due to the facial hair cut in a somewhat intricate pattern- and his eyes were _gorgeous_. T’Challa was certain that most people would be jealous of eyelashes that thick and dark naturally, and they framed the brown of the man’s eyes nicely. Hmm.

“I am,” he says in return though he doesn’t offer more than that, curious to see where this would go.

“Yeah? Well, it _is_ that time of the year. Shitty relatives?” the man guesses, raising an eyebrow.

He had no idea what the man meant by _this time_ of the year though all the very obvious festivities suggested it was _some_ time of the year. Had he not spent so much time hiding away in the library he might have remembered what the hell this holiday was but he didn’t, and he doubted he’d remember even if he had paid attention. It was nearly ten years ago. “No, my relatives are not awful, they just expect too much and I am not willing to give my father what he wants. We are at something of a stalemate,” he says. His father was hoping he’d come around of course, Shuri was hoping that he did not, and he was more interested in doing what _he_ wanted to do, not what his father assumed he should because of outdated traditions.

The man beside him snorts, “good for you. I’ve been working my ass off for my entire life to try and impress my father and the last time he even looked in my direction it was to tell me to get out of his way. Now he’s surprised when I don’t want to go home for Christmas,” he says, rolling those pretty eyes of his. Shame that such a terrible gesture was inflicted on such beautiful eyes.

But that _did_ tell T’Challa what the hell was going on, “Christmas, right, _that_ was the holiday around this time. I suppose if I had watched a commercial or two I could have figured that out but television here is completely unappealing.” Too boring, predictable, and lacking in real substantial plots for his tastes. Wakandan television might have its issues but at least they had interesting ideas. “And sorry about your father, he sounds like an ass. Mine at least is a good man and a great father, but he puts too much stock in old traditions that are no longer viable in the current political climate.”

His companion’s eyebrows shoot straight up, “you didn’t know it was Christmas? Do you live under a rock? Who the hell doesn’t know about Christmas?”

“Wakanda, I suppose, might as well be under a rock for all the attention we pay to the world around us. Though if my father has his way that will change,” he says. He suspects that this plan has been in the works for awhile due to the amount of travelling T’Challa has been allowed to do since his teen years. Shuri had no inclination to travel but T’Challa has always had an interest in the outside world and his father has long gotten criticism for indulging T’Challa’s curiosity. Of course now he knew that his father had an agenda behind that and it irritated him. Still, though, he appreciated that his father understood that trapping him in one spot was not going to go over well, so he worked with T’Challa instead, even if he had his own plans to use that curiosity for political ends later.

“ _Wakanda_? Of man, you are a _long_ way from home,” his companion says.

“Well I am certain you noticed the accent, everyone notices the accent.” And then people proceed to ask invasive questions about his lineage and country of origin. Sometimes he did not mind but other times he wanted to tell people to go away, that his country of origin was none of their damn business.

“Well duh, but I didn’t feel the need to focus on it too much. I know lots of people with accents, doesn’t really mean much in the way of knowing who lives here and who doesn’t. Especially not in New York. So, what drew you out so far from home? Some political disagreement with your father I gather, but why here?”

T’Challa considers his options for a moment before deciding that he did not have much to lose. “My father has decided that I should start… training of sorts to take over as King when he steps down and I disagree with his decision. I do not, nor have I ever wanted to be the King. My sister on the other hand has been pining for the position since she could form coherent thoughts and she is more than qualified to take up the position. Unfortunately tradition means _I_ must take over for my father unless, of course, I marry a foreigner. So, would you like to get married?” he jokes, half smiling.

“Sure,” his companion says, shrugging and letting out a grin of his own.

“I… are you serious?” he asks, frowning.

“If you are. I mean why not? I help you out, I’ll _definitely_ piss off my old man given that he doesn’t exactly know I’m not straight and _boy_ will this be a coming out story to tell. Not that the marriage has to be legit or anything outside of the paperwork. It’ll just be fun to bring you home for Christmas dinner and I can guarantee it’ll get me out of there sooner. So what do you say, I marry you so you don’t get stuck being king, and you deal with a single night of my horrible father and help me get disowned. Deal?” his companion asks.

T’Challa must have had far too much to drink that night because he agrees.

*

Tony’s mom calls him two days before Christmas as per usual; probably to all but beg him to come home for her. He’s pretty sure even _she_ hates Howard but she seemed to be a believer in the ‘death do you part’ thing in her wedding vows. He sort of expected T’Challa- he learned his new husband’s name when he they both realized they had no idea who the other was when they were taking their own vows- to bolt after the ceremony but he stuck around. His reasoning was that he wanted to see, on a whim, if this would even _work_. Tony married the guy on a whim so he couldn’t complain and his wedding night was enough to get him to stick around if for no other reason than some pretty fucking great sex.

“Hey mom, what’s up?” he asks, basking in the sun in some tropical place T’Challa picked because he hated the snow with a passion. And didn’t understand Santa Clause whatsoever, even after Tony’s extensive explanations.

“Tony, I _know_ you aren’t fond of Christmas but it’s two days away and I miss you. Please tell me you’ll come home,” she says, cutting straight to the point this year. Howard must be particularly horrible for her to cut the usual small talk and chitchat.

“Sure mom, I’ll be there,” he says easily enough. On the other end of the phone his mom is silent for a few beats, waiting for the bit where he tells her that he was kidding and that he’d rather drown in mayo like he did last year.

When he doesn’t say anything she presses on. “Is that it? That can’t be it; you _always_ put up a fight. What did you do?” she asks because she, unlike his asshole sperm donor, actually knew him well.

“I didn’t do anything, mom. But I’ll be a little late,” he says vaguely.

“And you’ll be late _because_?” mom asks, obviously knowing that there was more to that story.

“Well, I’m on my honeymoon and I didn’t really want to cut things short because he hates the snow and I want a tan. So we’re somewhere warm and tropical until Christmas Eve- no worries, we’ll be in for dinner,” he chirps.

“ _Anthony Edward Stark you got_ married _? When?_ ” his mother asks, demands really. “And why wasn’t I invited?” she asks, sounding a little hurt.

“No worries mom, Rhodey was the witness so no one was really invited. It was a bit… spur of the moment,” he says. Fucking understatement of the year but she didn’t need to know that.

“You invited _Rhodey_ before your own _mother_?” she snaps.

“He was closer geographically,” just a few feet away drunkenly hitting on poor Pepper to be exact. Pepper, though, refused to have anything to do with this nonsense and Rhodey went with just to make sure Tony didn’t do something even dumber than his original plan because he’s a good bro.

“He was _closer geographically_? I am your mother; I should have been invited to your wedding! Wait, what do you mean spur of the moment? Tony, _what did you do_?” she asks again in that Mom Tone she rarely got with him. Oh, shit was real now.

“Nothing, nothing, relax mom. It’s all good, you know Rhodey would never let anything bad happen to me- including myself so spur of the moment or not it’s fine. But I’m gunna have to let you go because my husband is a little confused and I’m gunna have to catch him up on this a little alright? So I’ll be home for Christmas, see you soon,” he says in a singsong tone.

“Don’t you dare hang up on me Anthony! Did you just say _husband_? Since when are you ga-” he hangs up because he loved his mother, but not so much that he wanted to have a longer conversation with her.

“I take it that your parents did not react well? Because my father is certain that I am lying to him to prove a point,” T’Challa says.

“Yeah, mom’s a little pissed that she wasn’t invited and Rhodey was. So how _is_ the King of Wakanda?” Tony asks. He wonders how long T’Challa was going to keep _that_ charade up given that it was obviously a fake story. As _if_ someone from Wakanda would ever even _leave_ the country let alone the damn _prince_.

“He is not impressed and he has booked a plane ticket to America so he can figure out whether or not I _actually_ got married. He is not going to be happy with his findings, but he will not be there for a few days so we have more than enough time to anger your family before we anger mine,” he says, shrugging. Tony wonders how T’Challa is going to pull the actual King of Wakanda out of his ass or if he was going to fake it. Either way he was curious and interested.

*

Out of curiosity more than anything Tony looks up T’Challa’s information only to be surprised that _holy shit he married the_ actual _prince of Wakanda_. Holy fuck Rhodey and Pepper were going to shit themselves. “Did you think I was lying?” T’Challa asks, arms folded across his chest as he spies Tony staring at his newly acquired information in shock.

“Oh come _on_ , the prince of Wakanda? That sounds fucking ridiculous,” Tony says. It’s _true_ alright?

“Please,” T’Challa says, rolling his eyes, “you told me that you are a genius billionaire with three, almost four, PhDs and you thought _my_ story was ridiculous?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, excuse you we’re on _my_ yacht using _my_ billions of dollars to honeymoon so _clearly_ I was not lying, thank you. You can’t really blame me for thinking your story was nuts, Wakanda is notoriously isolated and happy that way, there was no _way_ you could be the prince because you wouldn’t leave let along lack security detail. What the _hell_ were you thinking? I could have been some axe murderer or something! _Where the hell is your security_?” he asks, shocked at Wakanda’s apparent lack of care for their beloved prince.

T’Challa’s features soften some, “I appreciate your worry, Tony. But I am in no danger from you or most anyone else, I am highly trained in martial arts and it is doubtful that anyone could hurt me here. Or anywhere. And your story was still ridiculous but you use your degrees as paperweights so I know they are real. And a google search of your name tells me some _very_ interesting things about you,” T’Challa says but thankfully he looks more amused than not. It wasn’t really often that Tony ran into someone who didn’t know who he was, but T’Challa actually _was_ from Wakanda so it made sense that he hadn’t recognized Tony. For a long moment they look at each other before bursting out laughing at the absurdity of this whole thing.

*

T’Challa is not sure who is more angry- Howard or Maria. Maria seemed to be hurt that her son did not invite her to his wedding, but his father seemed to be angry with Tony’s whole existence. T’Challa did not know Tony well admittedly, but you learn plenty of things about people if you spend a soli week with them. He could tell that Tony was playing like he did not care that his father was clearly disappointed with… Tony he supposed, in every sense rather than just the spontaneous marriage. He seemed to have a habit of playing up his arrogance and flashiness when defensive, which made T’Challa wonder just how defensive he felt all the time considering his public image. And it also made him wonder why Tony was willing to let his guard down around him. Maybe because he had his own issues that they have discussed at length.

He did not know more than what Tony has already told the public, but he supposes he is the first to see it unfold in front of him. Not that he was very impressed as the night carried on and Howard got cruel enough that Maria was willing to tell him to calm down. Tony’s obvious surprise told him that was unusual.

“Oh for fucks sakes dad, would you just shut up? I’m married, I want to look into clean energy instead of weapons, and I think mom should divorce your ass. Get over it,” Tony snaps.

“I will _not_ ‘get over it,’” Howard snarls, “I don’t even know _where_ you found that but you’re getting a divorce immediately because you aren’t even gay. You’re just doing this and the clean energy bullshit to piss me off and you’re going to stop it _now_.”

“Excuse me?” T’Challa says before Tony can interrupt.

“Oh stay out of this, you’re only in it for the money anyways,” Howard says, rolling his eyes.

“That’s pretty fucking presumptuous of you, especially since he’s not in this for the money. Is hard for you to accept that he might actually give a shit about me- unlike you? And no, I’m _not_ gay; I’m bisexual so you can fuck off with that too. And I’m not getting a divorce,” Tony snaps.

Howard stands up, his chair nearly falling backwards with the force of it but Maria catches it in time. “You _will_ get a divorce, and you _will_ drop this clean energy crap, and you are _not_ bisexual, and you _will_ stop pressing my buttons,” Howard snaps.

Tony stands from his spot too, but his chair does not nearly hit the ground because he knows how to control himself at least in some respects apparently. “I am _not_ getting a divorce, I’ve _already_ done extensive research into clean energy and found profitable projects that I _will_ talk to the Board about, and I _am_ bisexual whether you like it or not, and I’m _not_ doing this to press your buttons because believe it or not my life doesn’t revolve around _you_ ,” Tony snarls harshly. He leans over the table some as he delivers the harsh words, something that proves to be a mistake when- shockingly- Howard makes a move to _hit_ Tony.

T’Challa catches his hand long before it connects to Tony’s face, “you will do best to keep your hands _off_ my husband- and you wife-” he adds after a brief glance to Maria, “or you will not live long enough to regret it. And do not make the mistake of thinking money and power will save you- I am the prince of Wakanda, I have more money and power than your pathetic little pea brain could even dream up and I will never feel the consequences of giving you exactly what you deserve. Now I suggest you let Tony do what he wants because he is smarter than you, a drunken buffoon on a bender that only gives him power in his own mind.”

“Dude,” Tony whispers after a few tense seconds pass by, “you’re the best husband _ever_.”

*

T’Challa looks somewhat small next to his father, who Tony has to admit has a presence to say the least. He though _Howard_ could make himself look big but he didn’t hold a match to T’Chaka. It would help if he knew what they were arguing about but he was hardly fluent in Wakandan, all he knew was that things were uh… animated. Both men were clearly frustrated with the other and they didn’t appear to be getting anywhere.

“Just let him do what he wants, is really harming anyone?” Tony finally says. It was only fair, he supposed, after T’Challa scared the _shit_ out of Howard.

T’Chaka whips around to face him and he does his best not to flinch, “stay out of matters that you do not understand,” he snarls in a harsh tone. From T’Challa’s stories this didn’t really seem like the guy he’s heard about but hey, he’s told plenty of nice stories about Howard too.

“You’re right, I have no god damn clue what is up with Wakanda. But I _do_ know your son and I also happen to know you have another kid who is perfectly willing to take his place. T’Challa has never been fond of politics or diplomacy and you have an entire other kid who lives for it. Why do you need T’Challa to fulfill the roll when someone else who actually wants it is available? And you can correct me if I’m wrong because I don’t know a thing about Wakanda, but if you have a leader who hates his position what do you think that’ll do to the country? Probably not good stuff, so just let him be. He’s happy here,” he says even though he isn’t totally sure that’s true.

He knows that T’Challa misses his country- especially since he hates snow so much and Miami is warm but it isn’t the same. So maybe T’Challa wasn’t as happy as he let on but he was happier here without political responsibilities than he was in Wakanda with political responsibilities. The dude jumped an ocean and a continent to get married to some random guy at a bar on a drunken whim to escape the possibility of Kingship. Tony thought that spoke volumes but T’Chaka didn’t know about the drunken whim thing- he was for some reason under the impression that he and T’Challa have been together for awhile and T’Challa did not seem to want to correct that assumption. Tony left it out too, because obviously T’Challa didn’t want his father to know so he respected that.

T’Chaka regards him for a long moment and Tony fights the urge to fidget under the scrutiny, “and what makes you think he is happier here, hmm?” he asks, though less harsh than the first time he addressed Tony.

“I said he was happy here, not happier,” Tony corrects. “I can see pretty clearly that he misses his home and his country, but he married me knowing that it would sever all ties to his country politically and culturally because he didn’t want to be King. I’m not exactly an expert on anything outside of tech because human interaction confuses me, but Wakanda to T’Challa is what tech is to me and I wouldn’t give that up for anything. So imagine the kind of pressure he must feel from you if he not only _is_ willing to give that up, but _has_ given that up. What you’re asking for isn’t fair or right. You can’t ask a person for more than they’re willing to give,” Tony says softly. He knew what it was like and it sucked, and he didn’t want to see T’Challa go through that. Surprise of all surprises he actually really liked T’Challa because for the first time in a long time he was willing to judge Tony on what he saw from _Tony_ , not the media, his father, or someone else. _Him_.

He was bound to be a massive disappointment but hey, in the meantime it’ll be nice and then he’ll screw up and he can go back to hating everything but his friendship with Rhodey and Pepper.

T’Chaka’s stare doesn’t let up for a long solid minute at least before he finally speaks. “I know about your reputation and you are terrible for my son, but you are right. Do not expect me to like him _ever_ ,” T’Chaka says to T’Challa. T’Challa looks at Tony like he just handed him the moon, obviously shocked. Well that made two of them.

*

“I cannot _believe_ your plan worked,” Shuri says, shaking her head at them.

“For ten years this year no less,” T’Challa says, grinning. Tony smiles too because this was the craziest thing he’s ever done but it was one of the best, right up there with talking to Rhodey that one time and hiring Pepper as his assistant.

“And you get what you wanted out of this whole deal too,” Tony points out.

“You ran off to America, married some random man on a whim, somehow made an actual marriage out of it, _and_ got our father to see my potential over his hopes for you. Color me impressed big brother. But more importantly, who is _that_ ,” Shuri asks, pointing at Rhodey from across the room looking pretty awkward and out of place.

“That’s Rhodey and if you start a conversation with him about planes he’ll never shut up. He’s in the Air Force. But avoid talking about bugs at all cost, he hates those with a passion so just… steer clear,” he says, waving a hand around. Shuri looks over at Rhodey again and takes a deep breath before starting over towards him.

“Did… did you just try and set my little sister up with your best friend?” T’Challa asks him.

“Duh. They’ve been giving each other googly eyes all day; I had to put them and myself out of our misery. Besides, they’d be cute and you know Rhodey isn’t a creep so I feel like this is a _great_ match. Bros help bros out and I have been lacking as a wingman for like a decade. Gotta make up for lost time,” he says, grinning.

“That is because you are _married_ and therefore unable to fulfill your duties as wingman. Unless you would like to change that,” T’Challa says playfully, smiling down at him.

Tony rolls his eyes, “hell no. We’ve been through so much together and also I love you too much. Who else am I going to find in this world who is willing to take on my father, totally gets me, and knows how to cook? I mean I found Pepper and Rhodey but neither of them would let me put a ring on it so I guess you’re all I have left,” he says, earning a playful shove from T’Challa. “Sorry sweetcheeks, you know it’s true.”

“It is not. They were just unwilling to see your full potential in all of your ridiculous and impulsive decisions, and I have not found anyone that was willing to explore my own impulsive decisions. We are made for each other,” T’Challa says.

Tony grins, “we just took down Howard in the most humiliating way possible _and_ your father finally admits that he kind of likes me. We are more than meant for each other baby, we’re soul mates.” How the hell else would this nutty plan have worked? Science said soul mates were fake but Tony wasn’t willing to give up his opinion that T’Challa was _clearly_ made for him.

“That is true,” T’Challa says, “and Howard did deserve what he got.” So he did- the asshole disowned Tony as soon as he and T’Challa left so Tony decided to start a new company to spite Howard called Stark Resilient. It didn’t take long to get funding, less time to get notice in the business and science community alike due to his green energy projects, and it wasn’t long after that that he was in direct competition technologically with his father. This morning he finalized the deal that bought SI from Howard, making it officially Tony’s like it should have been years ago. Weapons were the first things that were going but he hasn’t announced that yet. He did have people pulling weapons back from wherever they could in the meantime though, but he figured he should celebrate his ten-year anniversary to his husband first. The public could wait.

“What is this about Howard getting what he deserved?” T’Chaka asks, interrupting their conversation.

“Tony recently acquired his father’s company- the one he was initially kicked out of. Howard did not have much choice given that Tony was doing a good job at surpassing him in pretty much every way. It was easier to forfeit the company to his son than lose it entirely,” T’Challa says. It was still hell on Howard’s ego and Tony was practically _singing_ with happiness. That’ll teach Howard to mess with someone he can’t handle.

“Good for you,” T”Chaka says to Tony, “I never liked that man. Though I do have to admit that although I am not fond of violence I am disappointed that he did not get hit by a bus. That would bring me great joy after all the suffering he has caused my children.”

T’Challa smiles wide, his eyes crinkling in the corners, “I knew you would like him if you gave him a chance!” he says excitedly.

T’Chaka sighs, “I knew you would make me regret saying that,” he says.

“Shh, shut up T’Challa I like this parental approval thing. This is the first time this has ever happened to me, don’t ruin it. Thank you,” he says to T’Chaka, inclining his head a bit at the King.

“You are welcome. You have more than earned it with how happy you make my son,” he says. Tony smiles wide, looking over at T’Challa because yeah, they started out with a freaking ridiculous beginning but they were great together. Had been since day one.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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